Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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33. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the average waiting time for a first passport in Cork. [19790/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 33 and 40 together.

We are currently in the busy season for passports, as citizens prepare for their upcoming summer travel plans. The Passport Service is successfully responding to the current high demand, and has issued almost 350,000 passports to date this year. All turnaround times are at their target level and there are no backlogs. The Customer Service Hub is responding to over 3,000 queries per day.

The turnaround time for all paper applications is 8 weeks, regardless of the type of application, or the county of residence of the applicant.

The turnaround time for all first time online applications is 20 working days from the receipt of supporting documents, regardless of the county of residence of the applicant. The turnaround time for simple adult online renewals is 10 working days, and for complex or child online renewals it is 15 working days.

Passport Online is now used by over 90% of applicants worldwide. It is the fastest and most cost-effective way to apply for a passport, and can be used for renewal applications from anywhere in the world, and for first time applications from over 50 countries worldwide. I strongly encourage the Deputies to advise their constituents of the efficiencies of the online system, and to apply online in plenty of time, in advance of booking travel.

With regard to the expediting of applications required urgently for emergency travel, the Passport Service has a dedicated team that works to expedite such applications for cases of medical emergency or the death of a family member abroad.